Gary: An open letter to all elected government officials

Now that the elections are decided, and you are the successful candidate, we, the electorate, would like to thank you for assuming the very serious responsibilities of the office to which you have been elected, and would like to bring to your attention the thoughts of a few of the Founding Fathers as to the tasks and responsibilities you have chosen to undertake, whether you are now the president of the United States, a member of Congress, a member of a state legislature or a local official.

James Madison, the author of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, admonished candidates to refrain from making promises to voters in hopes of securing their vote.

He was convinced that, by making such promises, the elected official would feel compelled to act in the interests of those individuals rather than in the interest of the common good.

Madison felt strongly that those in elective office should use "integrity and virtue" in making decisions that were for the overall benefit of the country or state without indulging in payback to those special few.

In August 1788, in the first session of the Federal Congress during the review of the proposed amendments to the Constitution that have since become known as the Bill of Rights, when Madison appeared to be paying more heed to the constituents from his local district than might be appropriate, writing in the New York Daily Advertiser under the pseudonym "Pacificus," Noah Webster chastised Madison by saying that, as a member of Congress, Madison should "consider yourself not merely the representative of Virginia, but of the United States."

Webster asked, "Who are your constituents? Are they the electors of a small district in Virginia?" Webster espoused that now that Madison was a member of Congress, he represented the electorate of the entire country, and as such, Madison "had no right to declare that you would act upon the sentiments and wishes of your immediate constituents, unless … the measures you advocate coincide with the wishes and sentiments of the whole union."

Edmund Pendleton, chairman of the Constitutional Ratifying Convention held in Richmond, Va., in his opening remarks on June 2, 1788, appealed to the delegates to "calmly reason with each other, as friends, having the same end in view, the real happiness of our constituents, avoiding all heats, intemperance and personal altercations … Let us probe the plan to the bottom, but let us do it with candor, temper and mutual forbearance."

The politics of the early decades of this nation were highly rancorous with deeply divided and at times violent partisanship politics. Today, we are again deeply divided in our political opinions.

The responsibility is upon your shoulders as our elected representatives to rise above the petty attitudes of the man-on-the-street, above those who indulge in name calling and degrading of those with whom they disagree, above those whose only goal is to enrich themselves at the expense of the betterment of the nation, to end the rancor and to begin to compromise, to work together to solve the nation's problems. You are now the professional, the leader and the one to whom we all look for leadership.

We implore you to willingly assume the mantle of your new position, to act as the leader you now are to guide this nation through its trials and tribulations to a better America for all its citizens — regardless of political party or ideology.